Over 70, 000 tested through Regional Testing Day

This reflects a 64 percent increase over results for 2014, Dr Allyson Leacock, Executive Director of the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS (CBMP) reported during the opening ceremony of Regional Testing Day 2016, held at the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation, on Friday.

 

CBMP launched its first Regional Day on June 27th, 2008, and over the years has worked tirelessly in partnership with Scotiabank, the Pan Caribbean Partnership against (PANCAP) and Ministries of Health across the Caribbean. This has resulted in over 70,000 people in 21 countries being tested through this initiative.

 

Last year, 110 people tested positive for the HIV virus, Dr Leacock said, revealing that participating countries that registered positive results were: Antigua (3); Bahamas (8); Barbados (4); Belize (2); Dominica (1); French Guiana (19); Grenada (1); Haiti (38); Jamaica (12); St Kitts & Nevis (1); St Lucia (2); and Trinidad & Tobago (19).

 

“This data collection is important for the Caribbean to demonstrate its accountability and also for us to use this data to provide critical information on the progress we making with the HIV epidemic.”

 

2016 Goals

While 2015 activities focused on the men across the Caribbean, Dr Leacock said that this year it was proposed that goals be closely aligned with the region’s wider agenda and targets for ending the epidemic by 2030 and the UNAIDS targets for 2030.

 

“We are aligned to the global target of prevention in the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework (CRSF) 2014 – 2018, with the goal to – expand access to high quality, evidence-based and appropriately targeted packages of prevention service… I am pleased to say that our Regional Testing Day activities contribute to the achievement of this strategic objective.”

 

However, despite these successes, the Executive Director pointed out that national and regional responses continue to be challenged by structural barriers, particularly stigma and discrimination that impede key affected populations such as gay men and other men who have sex with men, transgender persons, sex workers and drug users’ access to prevention services including HIV testing.

 

“We still have work to do,” Dr Leacock stressed.

 

“As we move forward for another year, we need to rely on our partnerships for greater success… In this regard, permit me to thank our recent partners Community Education Empowerment & Development (CEED) who joined us last year and the Boy Scouts Association and Barbados Family Planning Association (BFPA), who offered their locations as testing sites this year.” (TL)